Accepting a “thorn in the flesh” is to accept a reproach.
Apostle Paul said, “I take pleasure in reproaches.”
If your marriage is a “thorn in the flesh”, you must receive it as a reproach that God has allowed to be with you. Indeed, it will be a reproach that you cannot get rid of. It is something you must live with.
A reproach is an embarrassing aspect of your life. Some marriages are a great embarrassment to the man of God. There are many men of God who are embarrassed by the kind of woman they have ended up with. She is unspiritual and not complementary at all to his ministry. That is a reproach!
Such a wife can bring shame as people question
the wisdom that the man of God used in selecting such a person. I remember a
pastor whose wife would drink alcohol at
programmes where he ministered.
He was continuously embarrassed by his drunken wife. She would make things
worse by drinking her alcohol with her sleeping medicine and anti-depressant
drugs that had been prescribed to her. One day, after taking her medicines and
her alcohol, she just died in her bed.
Accepting a “thorn in the flesh” is to accept that you will be in need even though you are married.
Apostle Paul said, “Therefore I take pleasure in necessities.”
If your marriage is a “thorn in the flesh”, you must see it as God allowing you to have a need. Paul said, “I take pleasure in necessities.”
If you have a “thorn in the flesh” marriage, you will always be in need of love, you will always be in need of comfort, you will always be in need of peace, you will always be in need of sex, you will always be in need of food, you will always be in need of support and you will always be in need of care. That is what it means to have a thorn in your flesh.
With such a marriage, you will see others having their needs met, whilst you live in deprivation. Take heart, dear friend, there are many men that have many needs, even though they are married.
Accepting a “thorn in the flesh” is to accept that you will be persecuted through your marriage.
Apostle Paul said, “Therefore I take pleasure in persecutions.”
If your marriage is a thorn in the flesh, you must accept it as a kind of persecution that comes to a righteous man. Perhaps you are not suffering the persecution of being martyred for Christ, but you may suffer persecution from your own darling “beast”.
You may not have a wicked Roman Emperor like Nero or Caligula breathing persecution down your neck. Your own wife will suffice! She will make up for the absence of the wicked Roman tyrants. The problems the early Christians had from Roman tyrants cannot be repeated in the world today. Through marriage, you may experience an equivalent level of suffering. If you survive that sort of marriage, in heaven, you may sit next to Christians who were killed by gladiators, lions and Roman soldiers.
People will wonder what you are doing sitting next to such heroes. All you will say is you were married to Samantha for thirty-three years and when you came to heaven you were ushered to sit amongst these heroes.
One pastor spoke about his marriage. He said, “If I am able to stay married till I die, it will be an achievement that is equivalent to all the souls won by Billy Graham!”
Accepting a “thorn in the flesh” is to accept that your marriage will distress you.
Apostle Paul said, “I take pleasure in distresses.”
Your marriage may be a distressing situation that God has chosen for you to experience. You will often be perplexed in marriage! You will be amazed and you will also be distressed throughout your marriage.
Your distressing marriage is not something you can end by going to court. It is a spiritual thing that has been given to you to experience. It is a demon that has been given access to you for a spiritual reason.
Arise and be strong. Pray for grace to lead
you on!
“T’was grace that brought us safe thus far; and grace will lead us home!”1
Notice men of God that look stressed and distressed. Much of that stress comes from the troubles at home.